Calaveras' head of planning, building resigns

Tuesday

Jul 22, 2008 at 12:01 AM

SAN ANDREAS - Stephanie Moreno, the former Amador County official brought in to modernize Calaveras County's Building and Planning departments, is resigning a little more than two years after she came on the job.

Dana M. Nichols

SAN ANDREAS - Stephanie Moreno, the former Amador County official brought in to modernize Calaveras County's Building and Planning departments, is resigning a little more than two years after she came on the job.

Her resignation comes after more than a year of complaints from builders and developers, who said Moreno was responsible for creating gridlock in the departments that discouraged development and hurt the county's economy.

County Administrative Officer Bob Lawton issued a news release Monday afternoon saying Moreno was resigning from her $118,000 a year job effective Aug. 1. The Calaveras County Counsel's Office issued a statement saying the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 late Friday to accept the resignation, with Supervisor Tom Tryon opposed.

Tryon declined Monday to explain his opposition but promised to make a statement at today's board meeting.

Tryon called three weeks ago for the board to heed a grand jury report that criticized Moreno and to hold a closed-door session to consider her discipline or dismissal. Initially, the board majority resisted that proposal. But a week later, Lawton made an unusual announcement before a room packed with Moreno's building industry critics that the board would hold a closed session on the employment status of an employee. He did not identify Moreno or her position, but virtually everyone who follows county government assumed Moreno was the one being discussed.

Several building industry leaders applauded Monday's announcement.

"We are supportive of the change. We think it is overdue," said Dave Haley, a vice president and division manager for Castle & Cooke Calaveras Inc., which has five developments near Copperopolis, including Copperopolis Town Square and Saddle Creek Resort.

Haley said that under Moreno's leadership, the quality of work done in the two departments had declined: "We just had not been getting good answers or good direction on anything having to do with a planning or building issue."

Mike Borean, a home designer in Murphys and vice president of the Calaveras County Builders Association, said Moreno's resignation would reassure builders who had lost faith in the county government.

"That is a tough job for somebody with all the proper qualifications," Borean said of the Community Development Agency director role. "She didn't have any of the qualifications. It is a highly technical position."

Moreno, a former elected Amador County supervisor, has a background in government administration but was not formally trained in either land-use planning or construction technology.

That was galling to builders, engineers and contractors who said her decisions on matters ranging from septic tank setbacks to the need to verify legal road access to building sites had unnecessarily snarled dozens, even hundreds of land deals and projects.

Moreno did not respond Monday to messages seeking comment.

Assistant County Counsel David Sirias said he was unable to answer questions Monday about whether Moreno was paid any kind of settlement in return for her resignation.

And Lawton described the news release he sent as the "county's sole statement on the matter."

That release quoted Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve Wilensky as praising Moreno for her work and defending her from grand jury accusations of wrongdoing.

"Under every circumstance, Ms. Moreno has been unstinting in her dedication to the tasks at hand," Wilensky wrote in the statement.

John Buckley, executive director of Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center and a frequent advocate at county meetings for protecting wildlife and open space, said he is sorry to see Moreno go.

"It is a worrisome sign that pressure from the development community has ousted someone who has stood up to political pressure," Buckley said.

"While Stephanie may not have been as neutral and supportive of the environment as the conservation community would have liked, we nevertheless found her to be a strong proponent for Calaveras moving into the modern age when it comes to following state laws."